What’s your favourite Fish and Chip shop?

The Dolphin Takeaway in Dungannon, County Tyrone has claimed the title of Northern Ireland’s top fish and chip shop for the second year running.

The title was awarded to the George’s Street takeaway in the 2017 National Fish & Chip Awards, organised by Seafish.

Competing to be crowned Independent Takeaway Fish and Chip Shop of the Year, The Dolphin Takeaway will now ‘fry’ for glory against the nine other regional winners, one from each judging region in the UK*, as they vie for the ultimate title - the ‘best fish and chip shop’ in the UK.

Covering the length and breadth of the country, the nine other finalists are:

Fochabers Fish Bar in Fochabers, Moray (Scotland)

Hennighan’s Top Shop in Machynlleth, Powys (Wales)

Miller’s Fish and Chips in Haxby, North Yorkshire (North East England)

Hodgson’s Chippy in Lancaster, Lancashire (North West England)

Oldswinford Fish & Chips in Dudley, Stourbridge (Midlands)

Burton Road Chippy in Lincoln, Lincolnshire (Eastern England)

Henley’s of Wivenhoe in Wivenhoe, Colchester (London & South East England)

Malachy Mallon, owner of The Dolphin Takeaway, commented: “We were shortlisted in the top 10 last year and to be here again feels just as amazing!

“We’ve been running for over 20 years striving to offer the best quality fish and chips, but it’s our attention to detail and the care we take with customer service that we believe really sets us apart from the rest.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be acknowledged for our hard work. Our staff have very much embraced the awards and are now excited to be working in a chip shop that’s recognised as one of the best!”

To get to this stage and secure a top spot, The Dolphin Takeaway has had to fry at the top of their game, facing appraisal by industry experts across a variety of criteria including menu development and innovation, sustainable sourcing policies, staff training processes, and marketing and promotional activities.

They also received mystery shopping assessments to ascertain customer service levels and the quality of fish and chips, along with in-depth judging audits to appraise a wide range of criteria including ingredient storage and preparation processes, cleanliness and integrity of shop equipment and observation of cooking practices.

Having being crowned the top shop in each of their respective regions, the 10 hopefuls will now put their presentation skills to the test in one last judging round. Facing a specialist judging panel - consisting of representatives from leading trade bodies, the fish and potato supply sectors and past awards champions - they’ll be quizzed on a diverse range of industry related topics and be required to demonstrate how they successfully run a profitable business and plan for future development.

Held in London on 25 January 2016, this final judging stage will determine the overall national winner that will be announced at an awards ceremony on 26 January 2016.